To serve remaining two years in office, will not seek reelection

 

ADUN SPEAKS | From being the youngest member to the senior-most, I have been in the Selangor state legislative assembly for 25 years. I was elected in the constituency of Bukit Gasing in 1995 and shifted to represent Bandar Klang in 1999.

The name of the constituency has been subsequently changed to Sungai Pinang and then to the present Bandar Baru Klang and I have continuously represented the people in the state assembly spanning a period of a quarter of a century as of today.

Going through the ups and downs of DAP, from its lowest ebb to the peak, I was the sole DAP elected representative in the Selangor state assembly in 1999 and now we have 16 - the highest number in the history of DAP.

I had been the opposition leader in the state assembly, the speaker, and now a state executive council member, experiencing 12 years as an opposition member and now my 13th year in government, setting an unprecedented record of a full cycle of an elected representative in the Selangor legislature in three different positions.

12 years in the opposition

During my tenure as an opposition member, I exposed the incident where the then-speaker of the House, in breach of a constitutional restriction, still held the chairmanship of a co-operative during his tenure. In 1997, I tabled a no-confidence motion against the Menteri Besar which led to his resignation announced on the first day of the state assembly meeting.

I exposed the scandal of the then-Menteri Besar approving RM5 million to renovate his official residence in the same year and then spending another RM77,000 for his hotel accommodation during the renovation in the following year.

Numerous administrative scandals, malpractices, and corrupt practices were highlighted and a long list of proposals on administrative transparency, integrity, scrutiny, and reform of legislature was put forward during my tenure of 12 years as an opposition representative.

Legislative Reform

After coming into power in Selangor in 2008, as the speaker, I was in-charge of carrying out legislative reform which included amending the standing order to increase the number of committees of the House, standardising the procedure of the proceeding of the committees, consolidating the power and authority of the assembly to scrutinise the administration, increasing the transparency of the administration by establishing public hearings of the House committees, enhancing the capability of assembly members in providing effective check and balance in the administration to ensure that the spirit of separation of powers is upheld, and that the Selangor assembly would be a model for other legislatures in the country.

Reform of the local governments

When I was appointed as a member of state executive council (exco) in 2013, I was entrusted to hold the portfolio of Local Government and R&D in the first 14 months.

Within the short stint of 14 months, we formulated and implemented a important policies including basic academic qualification of local councillors, limitation of tenure of local councillors to two terms or four years, reservation of one-third of local councillor positions for women, formulation of a policy for the compulsory moving of swiftlet operations to agricultural land.

We also set up the Quick Response Team (Pantas) at all 12 local governments, conducted a biannual poll to gauge the performance of the local government and residents' satisfaction, live-streamed full board meetings of local governments, upgraded 500 playgrounds within five years, and initiated initiating the waste-to-energy project.

Public transport masterplan

From September 2014, I was reassigned to take charge of the portfolios for Investment, Industry and Commerce, SME, and Public Transport.

During the three and a half years dealing with public transport, we completed the Selangor Public Transport Masterplan and implemented Bas Selangorku free bus service (rebranded as Smart Selangor Bus) which provided more than 130 buses for 15-hour daily free shuttle services within the state.

This initiative won Selangor an award for being the state government that provided the most number of free bus services in the country. We also launched the plan of having 1000km of bicycle lanes within five years in the state. During this period, we also completed the coordination of works determining the third Light Rapid Transit alignment, the stations and its development permits.

Masterplans for industry and commerce

Under the portfolio of investment, industry and commerce and SME which I held since 2014 till today, we have completed the formulation of the Selangor Industrial Master Plan, Selangor Aerospace Industry Action Plan, Selangor Halal Action Plan and are in the midst of formulating the Selangor Biotech Industry Action Plan.

Four councils which comprise the relevant government agencies, industry players, and academia have also been set up to jointly promote the four sectors during this period, namely, the Selangor Information Technology and E-commerce Council (Sitec), Selangor Bio Council, Selangor Airspace Council and Selangor Halal Council. The state investment promotion agency, SSIC, was also rebranded as Invest Selangor during my tenure and embarked on strategic and management realignment.

After positioning Selangor as the gateway to Asean, we set a vision to make Selangor a global trading hub and thus embarked on advocating the construction of the Selangor Business Capital.

In 2015, we organised the Selangor International Expo which then expanded to become the Selangor International Business Summit in 2018 which besides the expo, includes the Selangor Asean Business Conference, Smart City and Digital Economy Convention, and Selangor Innovation and R&D Expo.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we moved the events on-line for the Virtual Selangor International Business Summit this year. By now, Selangor has become a formidable contributor to the national GDP to the tune of 24.2 percent in 2019. The total approved investment for Selangor in 2018 and 2019 had also been the highest in the state's history as a result of the hard work in the past six years.

I am truly honoured to be given the opportunity to participate in reforming and rebuilding Selangor after the historic change of government in 2008. With the support of the people and colleagues in the government, I have been able to effectively participate in the work of bringing Selangor into new horizons and realising the aspiration of building a clean, just, diligent, and people-friendly government while ensuring robust economic development.

Party work

I have been consecutively elected as a DAP Central Executive Committee member since 1996, a testament of the strong support of the party members all over the country, making me one of the very few elected CEC members whose tenure is almost half the age of the party. I am truly honoured and grateful to all party comrades.

When I was the National Chairman of DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy), we advocated an amendment to the Constitution for two of five direct-elected senior positions in Dapsy to be filled by women. That has been in force for 20 years.

We also set up the target of training and sending Dapsy leaders to lead in the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) which eventually made a DAPSY leader the chairperson of IUSY years later.

When I was appointed the National Director of Political Education in 1996, we started to formulate the initial draft of the political education syllabus and carried out political induction session nationwide. My struggle with our comrades during the toughest days of the party has been the direct consequence of my consecutive election into the CEC for 24 years.

Conclusion

It has been 30 years since I joined the party after the 1990 general election. I went through six general elections, elected assemblyperson for 25 years, and CEC member for 24 years. It is time to conclude a chapter.

I have relentlessly given the best of my ability to help build the nation, especially Selangor, and I will leave it to the people and history to judge me. I was unexpectedly fortunate to be reappointed as a Selangor exco member in 2018. I considered it to be divine intervention after pouring tears and sweat over the years to build the state. Hence, I shall not yearn for anything further than that except a graceful departure after completing my present term of office.

There is now an abundance of able and willing talents in the party whose capability and potential are well above my level. My continued presence will stand in the way of the advancement of aspiring new talents and, hence, my departure shall be the most appropriate option in the best interest of the party and nation. I strongly believe that my successors will be able to scale new heights of what we have achieved thus far in the foreseeable future.

Although I opt to exit, I will stay by the sidelines to cheer my comrades on and to share the joy of their future success. To realise the noble ideals of building a fair and just society as aspired by the party’s founders, we need not only to stay steadfast in upholding the party’s stand and principles but also to possess the capability and knowledge in administration and the virtue of being perseverant, magnanimous, creative, pragmatic, agile and decisive.

I have accumulated a tremendous amount of experience after numerous successes and failures and I will be very glad to share them, if and when needed, in anticipation of realising the aspiration of establishing a new Malaysia.

Stated thus, it is my great pleasure to announce that I will not be participating in the DAP CEC election this year and the next DAP Selangor state committee election. I will also not seek re-election after the dissolution of the Selangor assembly. I have contributed half of my life to public service and it is time to chart another route for another half of it.

I would like to profusely thank all my supporters who have been giving me overwhelming support and care over the years which I shall forever remember. If I ever achieved any accomplishment, the credit shall go to them. If I made any mistakes along the way, I tender my unreserved apology and I shall fully account for every single one of them.

To my party comrades, I also full-heartedly appreciate your support over the years. If I have had offended anyone of you in words or deeds, I too seek your pardon. My political involvement and public service of 25 years will be one of the most beautiful parts of my memory.

I have approximately another two years in office and I will continue to work all out until the dissolution of the legislative assembly. Only countdown, no slowdown.

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TENG CHANG KHIM is the Selangor State Executive Councillor for Investment, Industry, Trade, and Small-Medium Industries. He is also the Selangor assemblyperson for Bandar Baru Klang. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.